{"id":15318,"date":"2023-06-08T17:52:59","date_gmt":"2023-06-08T16:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/?p=15318"},"modified":"2023-06-08T17:52:59","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T16:52:59","slug":"when-will-micheal-martins-epitaph-be-written","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/2023\/06\/08\/when-will-micheal-martins-epitaph-be-written\/","title":{"rendered":"When will Miche\u00e1l Martin\u2019s epitaph be written?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last November, in one of his final outings as Taoiseach, Miche\u00e1l Martin delivered the annual Romanes Lecture at Oxford University<\/span><\/a>. It\u2019s unusual to find a senior Irish politician laying out a political philosophy, and for this he deserves credit, even if I take issue with his claim to occupying a \u2018liberal\u2019 middle ground.<\/span><\/p>\n

It reveals a politician of serious intent, at least compared to Leo Varadkar, who consented to a premature biography<\/a><\/span>, containing hostages to fortune<\/a><\/span>. Like Robert Emmet, Miche\u00e1l Martin has, thus far, left no epitaph as a \u2018weapon in the power of envy<\/span>.<\/a>\u2019 This is despite a personal history<\/a><\/span> that could easily evoke public sympathy.<\/p>\n

Since the nadir of the 2011 election, when Fianna F\u00e1il won just 20 seats with 17.6% of the vote, Martin has steadied that ship; winning 44 seats with 24.3% of the vote in 2016, and 38 seats with 22.2% in 2020, in the face of Sinn Fein\u2019s surge.<\/p>\n

Importantly, during this holding pattern, Martin has restored the party\u2019s access to levers of power and patronage. A romantic yearning for an overall majority associated with the leadership of Charles J. Haughey is a distant memory. In its place, we find steely pragmatism under Martin.<\/p>\n

One commentator recently argued that Martin<\/a><\/span>, \u2018has remade Fianna F\u00e1il from a party with pretensions of national leadership into a reduced but successful vehicle for its leader.\u2019 This seems unfair. It is difficult to imagine any leader re-invigorating the party sufficiently to remain \u2018the natural governing party<\/span><\/a>\u2019 after the car crash years of Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen.<\/p>\n

Whatever about the morality of the issue, Martin\u2019s decision to endorse the Repeal of the Eighth Amendment in 2018 \u2013 in contrast to the majority of his parliamentary colleagues<\/span><\/a> \u2013 was politically astute, given the low age profile<\/a><\/span> of the \u2018yes\u2019 vote.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Fianna Fail is still struggling to attract younger voters<\/a><\/span>, remains moribund in Dublin and vulnerable to rural independents. It is still being argued that a party lacking obvious rising stars could cease to exist<\/span><\/a>. A competent leader, however, cannot be blamed for the relative mediocrity of his colleagues.<\/p>\n

Martin\u2019s relationship to his lieutenants recalls a story about Charlie Haughey bringing his cabinet to the exclusive Coq Hardi<\/em> restaurant. The princely Haughey ordered Steak Tartar, and when asked, \u201cwhat about for the vegetables?\u201d, replied \u201cthey won\u2019t be dining.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreover, Martin\u2019s personal approval ratings<\/a><\/span> consistently exceed those of the gaff-prone<\/a><\/span> Leo Varadkar. This has implications for the forthcoming general election, when we may expect presidential campaigning, with relentless media focus on the strengths and weaknesses of the main party leaders.<\/p>\n

Finally, when it comes to deciding the composition of the next government, Martin\u2019s Fianna F\u00e1il is in less of an ideological straightjacket than Fine Gael. With an election looming, Martin may be happy to occupy a putative political centre, while watching sparks fly between Sinn F\u00e9in and Fine Gael.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Charles J. Haughey in 1989.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Embattled<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Thus, in the Romanes Lecture Martin lays claim to what he describes as an \u2018embattled liberal middle ground\u2019, pointing to threats posed by the technological rupture of the Internet and nefarious Russian interference in our democracy. These developments he ties to the recent political earthquakes of Brexit and the Trump Presidency, as well as the expression of conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n

This familiar narrative contains some truth, but \u2018an angry public discourse\u2019 in most countries can be traced primarily to a decline in manufacturing and heavy industry, the widening gap between rich and poor and a global housing crisis<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Martin nonetheless contends: \u2018In terms of basic concerns such as incomes, life expectancy and education, the scale of progress over the last century is beyond anything which was predicted, yet this is largely absent from the public discourse\u2019.<\/p>\n

This idea that we have \u2018never had it so good\u2019 ignores that since the 1970s real wages have barely budged<\/span><\/a>; life expectancy now appears to be declining<\/span><\/a>, in the U.S. at least; and how in Ireland we have an education system designed to produce nothing more than \u2018second class robots<\/a><\/span>\u2019, according to an OECD expert. And that is to ignore more existential threats such as climate change.<\/p>\n

He weakly recalls \u2018the best\u2019 losing \u2018all conviction\u2019 from W.B. Yeats\u2019s \u2018The Second Coming\u2019, a poem anticipating the victorious march of ideologies such as Communism and Fascism in the 1920s. Today, in contrast, we find a distinct absence of fixed ideologies animating the \u2018Populist\u2019 movements Martin decries.<\/p>\n

Thus, Martin\u2019s broad-brush account of Populism joins left (including Sinn F\u00e9in presumably) opposition with that on the right, to a point where, it seems as if anything other than his own centre-right viewpoint is, at best, fiscally irresponsibility, or, at worst, a \u2018threat to core principles of liberal democracy.\u2019<\/p>\n

Implicitly, any deviation from a neoliberal consensus reigning ascendant in Washington and Brussels is illegitimate. This amounts to a denial of a core principle of democracy: the sovereignty of the people in determining policy decisions through their elected representatives; as opposed to politicians facilitating a permanent government of unelected civil servants and unaccountable corporations.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Martin with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Ukraine in July 2022.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Undermining Democracy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Furthermore, Martin\u2019s assessment that \u2018the efforts by autocratic governments to undermine democracies is a relatively recent development in terms of its scale and ambition\u2019 absolves the U.S. from responsibility for its long-standing interference<\/a><\/span> in democracies, including Ukraine<\/a><\/span>. He expresses no condemnation for the U.S. hatching coups<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Moreover, according to the American Bar Association<\/a><\/span>: \u2018Special counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s investigation did not find sufficient evidence that President Donald Trump\u2019s campaign coordinated with Russia to influence the United States\u2019 2016 election and did not take a clear position on whether Trump obstructed justice.\u2019 Thus, to insinuate otherwise is simply a conspiracy theory.<\/p>\n

A lack of perspective is also evident in his contention that \u2018Russia\u2019s escalation of its eight-year war against Ukraine draws on a vision of restored imperial grandeur, but it is ultimately more about the desire to prevent liberal democracy succeeding in a former imperial domain.\u2019<\/p>\n

This disregards an obvious reason for the invasion, anticipated by, among others, George Kennan<\/a><\/span> the architect of containment: the prospect of NATO expanding as far as the Russian frontier. Democratically elected, or otherwise, any Russian leader would object to this<\/span><\/a>. This is not to justify the invasion, but to explain it.<\/p>\n

We might reasonably expect greater historical insight from a holder of an MA in the subject<\/span><\/a>. Approval for Timothy Snyder\u2019s \u2018wonderful work in linking historical insight to contemporary action\u2019 suggests he is not reading widely enough.<\/p>\n

A withering 2018 assessment of Snyder by Research Professor and Director of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at the George Washington University Dr Marlene Laruelle<\/a><\/span> is worth recalling:<\/p>\n

The fact that Timothy Snyder is an influential public intellectual and respected historian is no reason for scholars not to challenge his facile and polemical analysis of the contemporary Russian state \u2026 Distortions, inaccuracies, and selective interpretations do not help illuminate what motivates the Russian leadership\u2019s self-positioning on the international, and in particular the European, scene. Simplistic reductionist techniques and invalid reasoning further confuse the analysis\u2014and bias policy responses.<\/em><\/p>\n

The hawkish Snyder recently dismissed the danger of nuclear weapons being used in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, blithely claiming a nuclear bomb \u2018would make no decisive military difference<\/a>.<\/span>\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"
Martin meets with U.S. President Joe Biden at Carlingford Castle in April 2023.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Atlanticist<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It might be noted that in 2003, immediately after the illegal U.S. invasion of Iraq that caused up to one million deaths<\/a><\/span>, as Minister for Health and Children, Micheal Martin voted alongside his government<\/span><\/a> in favour of a motion endorsing \u2018the long-standing arrangements for the overflight and landing in Ireland of US military and civilian aircraft\u2019 \u2013 essentially sanctioning the refuelling of U.S. jets in Shannon.<\/p>\n

During that debate then Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny warned perceptively that the U.S. invasion invited anarchy in the global system. Indeed, it is believed to have had a significant effect on the psychological and political climate in Russia<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

It should also be noted that as chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations then Senator Joe Biden actively championed the invasion of Iraq<\/a><\/span>. As President he has included in his cabinet neoconservative hawks<\/a><\/span>, such as Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland<\/a><\/span>, who was U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO from 2005 to 2008. In early 2008, NATO promised Ukraine and Georgia they would one day join the alliance \u2018after rebuffing U.S. demands<\/a><\/span> to put the former Soviet republics on an immediate path to membership.\u2019<\/p>\n

Both as Taoiseach and now as Foreign Minister Martin has proved a staunch ally to the Biden administration, using Ireland\u2019s platform as a member of UN Security Council to argue that Russia’s conduct could not be reconciled with its place on the Security Council<\/span><\/a>. This hardly enhances the prospect of Ireland ever using its non-aligned status to work as an intermediary for a negotiated settlement to the war.<\/p>\n

Any Irish leader is likely to bow to realpolitik<\/em> considerations, but Martin might have done well to peruse the response of his former party colleague, and Minister for Foreign (or External) Affairs, Frank Aiken to the U.S.-funded Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961.<\/p>\n

In the U.N., Ireland supported the U.S. position, but Aiken also expressed an understanding of the Cuban reaction<\/a><\/span>. He counselled the Cubans on the fundamentals of de Valera\u2019s neutrality policy, specifically towards our own large neighbour: \u2018That principle was that under no circumstances would we allow our country to be used as a base for attack against our neighbour Britain \u2026 It has special validity in the case of small countries placed beside powerful neighbours with whom they have disputes or disagreements.\u2019<\/p>\n

The same logic might apply to a smaller country such as Ukraine, offering a base from which NATO could attack its powerful Russian neighbour. Martin might have let it be known that Ireland favoured de-escalation, acknowledging Russia\u2019s anxieties arising out of a collective memory of World War II, when the Soviet Union suffered up to 27 million deaths<\/a><\/span> at the hands of the Nazis and their allies. Instead, we hear unrelenting belligerence towards Russia \u2013 including an apparent disavowal of Irish neutrality<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Also in that lecture, Martin referenced the apparently undifferentiated views of the people of Ukraine:<\/p>\n

Just as they did in 2014, the people of Ukraine have been willing to sacrifice everything because they want to secure a free and prosperous future for their country.<\/em><\/p>\n

This ignores that the (pro-Russian) Viktor Yanukovych won the 2010 Presidential elections<\/a><\/span>, and was removed from power by force<\/a><\/span>, provoking a bloody civil war that witnessed up to 14,000 deaths<\/a><\/span>. Sadly, Martin coarsely labelled T.Ds in D\u00e1il Eireann challenging his preferred narrative \u2018Putin\u2019s Puppets<\/span>\u2019<\/a>, a remark surely contributing to \u201can angry public discourse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Image: Daniele Idini.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Liberalism?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In the Romane Lecture, Martin argues that the liberalism he espouses \u2018is a set of values which inherently respect the legitimacy of diverse political and social views.\u2019 But this hardly tallies with his record as Taoiseach.<\/p>\n

The reaction of the Irish state under Martin as Taoiseach to Covid-19 can hardly be described as liberal. Lockdowns, vaccine passes and forced quarantine for travellers in reception facilities were unprecedented interventions by the State into people\u2019s private lives.<\/p>\n

Doubtless, he would argue that a test of proportionality applied. In the lecture he maintains that COVID-19 \u2018<\/em>presented just as serious a threat to governments and institutions\u2019 as the Spanish Influenza pandemic.<\/p>\n

The Spanish Influenza (H1N1)<\/a><\/span> pandemic of 1918-19 carried off an astonishing fifty million people, most of whom were in the prime of their lives. In contrast, globally, there have been just under seven million<\/a><\/span> confirmed deaths \u2018with\u2019 Covid, the vast majority over seventy years of age<\/a><\/span> and suffering from significant co-morbidities. This at a time when the global population is six times that of 1918.<\/p>\n

We find further pieties from Martin such as condemnation of \u2018widespread attempts to question core public health advice and to spread doubt about the efficacy of vaccines and the intent behind them.\u2019 Unrestrained scientific debate is surely a key feature of liberalism.<\/p>\n

Martin also claims, without evidence, that \u2018the measure of the response of democratic societies to the pandemic can be seen in millions of saved lives and livelihoods.\u2019 In fact, according to one recent study lockdowns prevented just 0.2% of deaths<\/a><\/span> in Europe during the first wave. Moreover, excess deaths have increased steeply across Europe since the end of the pandemic<\/a><\/span>, indicating that lockdown measures produced serious harms.<\/p>\n

The Irish economic model remains highly dependent on foreign direct investment, including from pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer. Martin may consider preserving their goodwill<\/a><\/span> to be his priority. \u00a0But it leaves him open to the accusation that he is, at the very least, inadequately attentive to the conduct of companies with a long record of corruption, and criminality<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Martin showed poor judgment as Taoiseach during Covid-19, invariably resorting to draconian interventions. Thus, Ireland became the first European country to re-enter lockdown in October, 2020, based on speculative projections. Then he promised a \u2018meaningful Christmas<\/a><\/span>\u2019 later that year, when opening up prior to the annual winter respiratory season, generating the world\u2019s highest Covid rate<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Commendably, Martin \u2018placed an unrivalled emphasis on keeping schools open,\u2019 but he played a curious role in the introduction of face mask mandates. In Pandemonium: Power, Politics and Ireland\u2019s Pandemic <\/em><\/a><\/span>by Jack Horgan-Jones and Hugh O\u2019Connell we learn that Martin\u2019s phone had been \u2018buzzing with texts from his sister-in-law in Singapore. \u2018Masks, masks, masks,\u2019 she told him.\u2019 Earlier, however, Professor Martin Cormican informed NPHET that, \u2018if there is a benefit, it is very small<\/a><\/span>\u2019, and that \u2018widespread mask use also rapidly degenerates with poor practice, which could increase the risk of Covid-19 transmission.\u2019<\/p>\n

We also learn of Angela Merkel ringing up the Taoiseach to air her concerns about the Irish case trajectory in the Christmas of 2020, and Martin recalling her bringing this up again \u2018at the bloody EU Council meeting.\u2019 Merkel appeared to be demanding a level of stringency in other European states that ignored wider impacts. Just as during the era of austerity, the Irish government under Martin endeavoured to be the best boy in the European class and disregarded the consequences.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Paddy Cosgrave in 2022.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pervasive Division<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As a politician who has survived in government, and as leader of Fianna F\u00e1il, for longer than most, Martin obviously recognises the importance of maintaining warm relations with the press corps. Critical, or investigative, journalism, however, would hardly be a welcome intrusion into his affairs. The press, as the editor of the Times wrote in 1852<\/span><\/a>, \u2018lives by disclosure \u2026 The statesman\u2019s duty is precisely the reverse.\u2019<\/p>\n

Martin nonetheless said:<\/p>\n

Support for professional and independent journalism has become an urgent need in our societies. We can see what happens when we no longer put value on journalism which takes time, involves expertise and operates to high ethical standards. The dominance of current affairs by partisan media or by a limited number of the wealthiest in our societies is always destructive.<\/em><\/p>\n

His recent broadside, however, impugning the motivations of Paddy Cosgrave, Chay Bowes and The Ditch<\/a><\/span>, delivered under D\u00e1il privilege, is more revealing of his attitude. This further lapse into participation in \u201can angry public discourse\u201d was criticised by the National Union of Journalists<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Associating the Ditch\u2019s impressive record of exposing corruption with Russian interference<\/span><\/a> is a worrying sign of Martin being prepared to employ \u2018McCarthyite<\/a><\/span>\u2019 tactics.<\/p>\n

Martin refers to \u2018a pervasive division in public discourse is directly undermining the ability to develop effective responses to complex problems.\u2019 His problem is that young people, in particular, angrily contest the effectiveness of his government\u2019s response to these complex problems.<\/p>\n

In his role as Minister for Foreign Affairs and T\u00e1naiste Miche\u00e1l Martin may be somewhat insulated from the enduring failure of the Irish government to deliver on housing, which is now being preyed on by an incipient far right. But possessing an ability to survive in Irish politics is surely not the only epitaph he craves.<\/p>\n

Miche\u00e1l Martin may only consent to his epitaph being written once a majority of the young people of Ireland<\/a><\/span> look forward optimistically to a reasonable standard of living under a Fianna F\u00e1il-led government. Unless there is a significant change in circumstances, however, any second coming for him as Taoiseach appears remote.<\/p>\n

Feature Image: Martin with U.S. President Joe Biden<\/a> virtually on St Patrick’s Day<\/a> in 2022.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last November, in one of his final outings as Taoiseach, Miche\u00e1l Martin delivered the annual Romanes Lecture at Oxford University. It\u2019s unusual to find a senior Irish politician laying out a political philosophy, and for this he deserves credit, even if I take issue with his claim to occupying a \u2018liberal\u2019 middle ground. It reveals […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15319,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8],"tags":[320,1369,1411,2112,3000,3463,4512,5939,6134,6136,6137,6139,6140,6141,6142,6143,6144,6145,6146,6147,6148,10058,10115,10220],"class_list":["post-15318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs","category-irish","tag-affairs","tag-cassandra-voices-current-affairs","tag-cassandra-voices-irish-politics","tag-current","tag-epitaph","tag-frank-armstrong-on-micheal-martin","tag-irish","tag-martins","tag-micheal","tag-micheal-martin-biden","tag-micheal-martin-cassandra-voices","tag-micheal-martin-paddy-cosgrave","tag-micheal-martin-performance-as-taoiseach","tag-micheal-martin-pfizer","tag-micheal-martin-politics","tag-micheal-martin-russia-ukraine","tag-micheal-martin-the-ditch","tag-micheal-martin-ukraine","tag-micheal-martins-epitaph","tag-micheal-martins-oxford-lecture","tag-micheal-martins-political-philosophy","tag-when","tag-will","tag-written"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}